Bloomsbury Pie

by Regina. Marler

Not so many years ago Virginia Woolf and other members of the Bloomsbury group were barely known to the common reader. But the publication of Quentin Bell's 1972 biography of Woolf stirred a popular and academic interest in these writers that has only grown over time. From academic journals to popular biographies, from photo books to popular art films, Bloomsbury has become big business. Regina Marler treats the Bloomsbury craze with respect and a sense of humor as she charts the growth of the industry and keeps her eye on who is making the profits. Thoroughly researched, filled with great gossip, and fueled by a love of literature Bloomsbury Pie is contemporary scholarship at its best.

Genres: Nonfiction

1 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[Ally · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm afraid I had to give this one up for lost. It was...dare I say it...boring. It started off ok - I was interested in how Leonard Woolf was quite unconventional in the way he managed Virginia Woolf's literary estate after her death. The media and public opinion of the 'bloomsberries' was also fairly interesting. After that it went quite deeply into Vanessa Bell and her family, who doesn't really interest me much. Also, my view of Bloomsbury includes T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, E.M. Forster & co., which this book didn't really touch on (...unless I gave up too soon!). The way it was written was a little dry, when I found my self skim reading and skipping pages I knew it was time to give up.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this biography is very well-written, I felt ambivalent after reading it. I wasn't sure that I liked the author's biases that kept surfacing - her opinions about Vanessa Bell and Lytton Strachey, for instance, rather put me off. But all in all, I did enjoy reading it for the most part, and wouldn't dissuade anyone who wished to read it.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

The origin and growth of the "Bloomsbury Industry." Very interesting.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I did not know that I wanted, but once I found it I was very pleased -- and it did not disappoint! It is a history of how 'Bloomsbury' went from an address to an attempt to describe a group of friends with vaguely shared values & ideologies, to a long period as an insult, and then slowly over time (due both to accident and to many people's deliberate work) to an actual industry. I admired Marler's structure -- it very naturally moved across times and people in a way that made great sense and did not feel at all arbitrary, it is something I remember finding difficult in my own scholarly writing 15 years ago so I admire it very much. Marler pays good attention to detail without letting herself get bogged down in it, and I particularly appreciated her summaries of other works, such as all the different biographies of Virginia Woolf -- she shows how they are in conversation with each other and discusses some of the politics and scandals of them, but it never sinks to the level of pure gossip -- it all ties together to show how Bloomsbury became what it was when Marler wrote this in the late 90s, which is contemporaneous with my own period of Bloomsbury obsession, so very well-aimed for me. She has not published a book since 2004, which is a shame, as I would like to read more of her writing!

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not know why I waited so long to read this classic study of the controversies surrounding "Bloomsbury." Witty, urbane, balanced, it explained some grudges and feuds of which I was only partially aware. Particularly good on the reputations of Bloomsbury artists such as Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant. I stayed up until 2:00 re-watching Carrington as a result. Of course it is now 20 years out of date, and tends to be a bit dismissive of academics. (Or should I say, doesn't take us as seriously as we take ourselves)

[ND · Rating 5 out of 5]

exceptional, even on second reading

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some artists and movements that attract as much or more interest for their lives and personalities as for their work: Oscar Wilde, Sylvia Plath, the Beats, Bloomsbury. People are fascinated by them without necessarily being fascinated by their actual work or even knowing much about it. This book is a kind of meta-narrative of the reputations and popularity, both popular and scholarly, of the Bloomsbury group. The group, membership in which seems to shrink and expand with the needs and preferences of anyone looking at it, has been celebrated for its artistic and intellectual production and concerns, its rebellions against social norms, its aesthetics and style, its sexual radicalism and behaviour, and its social makeup; it has also been reviled for all the same things. Marler organises her discussion into three sections: the period after the war until the late '60s or so, when the group's reputation was at its nadir and many of its members or associates still alive; the explosion of interest in the early and mid-70s with the publication of a number of important biographies and memoirs and the changing of social norms that allowed some to begin writing and speaking openly of their sexual lives without distaste or sneering and encouraged others to take the work and lives of women more seriously; and the '80s and '90s with the proliferation of publications, both scholarly and popular, films, and tourist sites.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent addition to my collection of 'Bloomsbury' books, and the first I've read that takes a wide view of the whole concept of Bloomsbury. In an intellectual, but very readable way, as she traces the history of the Group and the concept, Marler searches for answers to the questions: What exactly is Bloomsbury? Why is it compelling? What has contributed to its rising and falling in popularity? Who were the real Bloomsberries? (Love that word, and I've never seen it before this book.) Of course she also talks about the types of people who are attracted, so I looked for and found myself among her examples.

I learned a great deal, and found it particularly interesting to see how differently the British and the Americans have reacted to, and treated Bloomsbury as an idea, and 'The Bloomsberries' themselves over the years.

[Christa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Regina Marler was my teacher at ASU when she was a master's student. She totally turned me on to Virginia Woolf and the whole Bloomsbury group. Good read.